Hanwha Investment & Securities said on the 15th that Hanwha Aerospace is expected to benefit in the mid to long term amid unstable international conditions and a global trend of increasing defense spending. The firm maintained its "Buy" investment opinion and raised its target price to 1.46 million won from 1.23 million won. The previous day's closing price of Hanwha Aerospace was 1,269,000 won.
Chae Un-saem, a researcher at Hana Securities, estimated that Hanwha Aerospace recorded revenue of 8.4 trillion won and operating profit of 1.1 trillion won in the fourth quarter of last year (October–December). Those represent increases of 74% and 22.3%, respectively, from a year earlier, and are expected to be in line with market consensus.
The sharp growth in revenue is due to the effect of consolidating Hanwha Ocean's results. Researcher Chae projected revenue of 3.4 trillion won for Hanwha Ocean and 1.3 trillion won for Hanwha Systems, up 4.3% and 34.8%, respectively, from a year earlier.
Revenue in the ground defense segment is estimated at 3.3 trillion won, down 2.3% from the same period in 2024. However, given that deliveries to Poland were concentrated in the fourth quarter of 2024, creating a high base, the company is assessed to have posted solid results on the back of domestic revenue recognition and expanded deliveries of Cheonmu.
The outlook was positive regarding concerns about a slowdown following the completion of the first batch of deliveries to Poland this year. Researcher Chae said, "While export revenue to Poland this year may decrease from a year earlier, increased revenue from countries other than Poland will more than offset this," adding, "As of the third quarter of last year, the order backlog excluding Poland amounted to about 9 trillion won, so the earnings growth trend remains intact this year."
The global trend of increasing defense spending amid unstable international conditions is also expected to be a tailwind. Researcher Chae said, "Considering the U.S. National Security Strategy, at least during U.S. President Trump's term, the trend of increased U.S. defense spending for reduced U.S. intervention and to check China, along with higher security demand among U.S. allies, will continue to drive global defense spending," adding, "Hanwha Aerospace's order pipeline is estimated at about 50 trillion won, and mid to long-term benefits are expected."